Pumpkin Syndrome
by Claire Starsword
Summary: To Natsu and Happy, it's October 31, x783, almost one year since they lost a dear friend. To Lisanna, it's yet another day in Edolas without them. But the night had a curious plan to reunite the three. Pumpkins, tricks, treats, carved smiles... Who wrote the script for this dream anyway?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N (10/26/2015): This is a fanfic I wrote for last year's Halloween, and also my first FT fanfic ever. It was only posted in Tumblr since I didn't have this account at that time, so I'm uploading it here now.** **It's based on the song 'Pumpkin Syndrome' by PolyphonicBranch ft. Rin & Len Kagamine.**

 **Hope you'll enjoy it!**

* * *

The Space Time Dimensional Magic, Anima.  
More than a passage between worlds, it's magic,  
and would be nothing without feelings.  
But even if you pour all your feelings into it, and make a wish,  
not all wishes can be granted.

* * *

In the dark streets of somewhere that was probably a dream, a lonely girl walked by, confused. It was unusual for her to have a vivid and lucid dream like that.

Though despite the initial surprise, her blue eyes were now shining with excitement. Since this is happening, she might as well enjoy it, right? And so Lisanna kept walking through the unreal darkness, only stopping when a giant orange gate appeared in front of her.

"Huh? How didn't I notice this gate before?" The orange color was so vivid and bright, she should have seen it from a distance. Then she remembered this was a dream and didn't have to make sense. She touched the gate, feeling strange warmth from it. "I wonder where this leads to..."

"Then enter, and feel at home!" The girl almost jumped in surprise upon hearing the childish voice. She turned around, looking for its source, but without any light she couldn't see anyone. And the voice continued: "We were looking for you."

"Looking for me?" She started to feel scared, but also... a bit happy? As if she was glad they knew her. Thinking better now, the voice did sound familiar and... nostalgic. Like a childhood friend you haven't seen in a while. No, it couldn't be-

Lisanna's thoughts were cut short as the gate opened with a creaking sound. She felt an unknown person pass through and, not finding anything better to do, followed them.

* * *

The mansion greeted her with cold and smiling pumpkins.

How could it be so cold when the outside was fine? She recalled the warmth from the gate and touched it again. From this side, it felt like ice. She was suddenly glad to be wearing gloves.

"Wah! It's cold here!" Cried the voice from before. "Natsu, light a fire already!" And that was when the girl finally turned to take a good look at the other people in the room.

One of them was a young but muscular boy with spiky pink hair. He wore a black cape and fake horns on his head, giving him the appearance of a demon. And sitting on his shoulder, shivering with the cold, was the one that had done all the talking so far, a blue cat wearing an orange cape.

To anyone, they would look like freaks, or actors for a cheap horror play, at best.

But to the white-haired girl in front of them, they were like home.

"That's better now!" Happy celebrated as his human friend covered his own hand in flames to warm up the place a bit. "Lisanna, aren't you cold too? Come here!"

Still hesitant about this encounter, Lisanna didn't notice the way the boy flinched at the sound of her name. Though after getting closer, she did notice the way his eyes were fixed at her.

"Why are you looking so down, Natsu?" She teased, trying to dispel the tension. "Are you guys lost here? Or were you expecting me to hug you or something? Because I could do that if you wanted." The way his face turned red was priceless.

"W-w-what are you talking about, woman?!" He stuttered. "Man, we barely found you and you're already saying this weird stuff!" Lisanna merely giggled at his antics. Then she got back to the current situation.

"So, you guys were really looking for me?"

"Yeah. That's what the script said we should do." They replied at the same time.

"Script?"

"Aye! The dream's script."

"Dream..." It took a while for her to understand. "That's right, this is a dream." That's why she felt hesitant to approach the two at first. She didn't want to get worked up for a reunion when she knew it wasn't real. Still... "Now that you've mentioned it, I should be surprised to meet you two here, but I have a feeling this is all natural. Like we're supposed to be here together. Is this what you meant by 'script'?

"Aye! At least, we're calling it that. We know this is a dream, and we have an idea of what to do. But we don't remember how we got here, or what this place is."

"Or why I have a pair of cool horns." Natsu added with a playful smile. "Oh, and by the way, this is for you." He tossed some clothes on her: a gray jacket and a black and blue striped scarf. She thanked him and put them on over her blue dress that was sadly far from ideal for the current temperature.

"Now, since we're here, we better get the show started!" Natsu grabbed the white-haired girl's wrist and started to drag her around the mansion. "Let's go, Happy!"

"W-wait! Where are you guys taking me?" Lisanna questioned, struggling to keep up with the boy's pace through the pumpkin-filled corridors (why were there so many pumpkins, anyway?).

"You're not supposed to know." He grinned. "Because you're the guest, and we're the hosts."

"And this is a party!" Happy finished the sentence, jumping in joy as Natsu opened a door leading to a dining hall.

The large table was full of sweets, and despite that, there was only one chair. Was a single person supposed to eat all that? Lisanna wondered as Natsu pulled the chair for her.

"Now, sit down, and enjoy the treats!" He said, grinning. Lisanna sat as he asked, but felt uneasy.

"Natsu, there's no way I can eat all this. I don't have the stomach of a dragon, you know." She tried to sound playful, but still felt her voice shake a bit. Something about her friend was off, but she couldn't tell what it was. "Why don't we all enjoy this together?"

"You're the guest, you're the one that has to choose, girl." He stated with a serious face, confusing her even more. What choice was he talking about? She decided to take a closer look at the food, trying to get some clue.

Somehow, all the treats had her name written on them. Part of her thought it was creepy, but the whole situation was so weird she didn't care as much as she normally would. Instead, an unpleasant suspicion slowly grew in her mind.

"Natsu," She stared at the boy darkly. "why did you called me 'girl' right now?" His eyes narrowed and she knew then she wasn't just being paranoid. "That's not like you. And I have a name, you know." She raised one of the creepy treats as if to strengthen her point.

As Natsu gritted his teeth in anger (or was it pain?), she felt she'd hit a nerve, and yet, she recognized sadness in his face too. However, soon he hid all of that with a wide grin, so forced and fake it reminded the girl of the carved pumpkins around there.

"That's it then." He announced in a false cheerful tone. "If you don't want the treats..."

"...Then a trick is it!" Finished Happy, while pulling a lever that surely wasn't there before. And so Lisanna fell through a hole that opened right under her feet.

* * *

The next moments were nothing but a repetition of pranks from Natsu and Happy. Every time, the boy would appear from somewhere, and offer the girl treats. She would refuse them, and then Happy would set up something fitting of a horror movie. From moving skeletons to hidden passageways, swarms of bats to moving stairways, Lisanna had seen everything by now.

Eventually, probably due to the dream's influence, she understood how their game worked:

Choose 'trick', and they keep messing with you.

Choose 'treat', and you can join them. Forever. Which made her shiver when she thought of what would happen to them in reality. Would they stay sleeping forever? Would they die? Or would a miracle happen, and the three would wake up together, once again living in the same world? The possibility sounded too good to be true, and besides, even so she wouldn't be able to go. She had another family to come back now. She had a farce to keep.

She smiled bitterly at the irony. She was angry at Natsu faking and hiding stuff from her, yet she was the greatest liar of all. No wonder they never got anywhere in their relationship. And never would.

Lisanna kept wandering aimlessly through the mansion, until Natsu came crashing through the ceiling. His hand extended towards her, full of sweets.

"Are you getting out of ideas? It's the tenth time you come like this. And coming from the floor wasn't much of a difference, also." He looked very insulted, and she resisted the impulse of giggling at such a childish reaction.

"So you're still not accepting them? What a pain you are, I wanted to solve this quickly."

"I'm sorry I'm annoying you." She approached him. "To be honest, I'd love to accept these sweets from you, Natsu. But I can't. And I would like some truthful answers from you too, anyway." He looked away.

"...Sorry. I didn't want to make you sad." His face was sorrowful now. "It's just that, this is just a dream, it doesn't matter what we do. In the end we'll leave and nothing will have changed. So why should we waste time here? Let's just follow this 'script' and be over with this already!"

For a moment, Lisanna didn't know how to react. She just stood there, drowning in guilt. Because this was all her fault.

Natsu had always been the kind of person that didn't focus on sad things. Whenever something bad happened, he would always try to cheer everyone up and either find a solution to it or ignore it. He was never good at facing inevitable sorrows. And she had disappeared and hurt him, when he already had a missing father to worry about. And to make things worse, now she was here in a dream with him. Impossible to be saved, but impossible to be ignored either. It was no wonder he didn't want to stay much longer, or even say her name. She was like a ghost, and wanting to stay with ghosts is just foolish. Everyone would be happier if they moved on from her.

Thinking like this made her want to cry, but she held it in. The situation was sad enough already. Besides, it wasn't the first time she considered how much pain she brought with her 'death'.

"Hey, are you alright?" Natsu started to worry about the quiet girl in front of her. She just stared at him, still deep in thought. She would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying having him and Happy around here. Knowing they were fine and rowdy as always. Was there a way to make Natsu enjoy this moment too? Since there was no way to really fix things between them, couldn't a ghost like her at least give him a nice dream, for once?

When she thought that, an idea came to her mind and she smiled.

"You silly. Can't you see what else there is to do here?"

And before he could answer, the girl leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"H-h-huh?" Taking advantage of his confusion and embarrassment, she kicked him, making him fall to the floor.

"And that's how you trick someone!" She laughed, winking at him. "Let's play evenly this time! Find me if you can!" And she disappeared through a door, leaving a confused boy and talking cat (Happy had been hiding so far waiting to trick Lisanna) behind.

"She likes you!" The teasing was expected but that didn't make Natsu any happier.

Soon, they returned to their game, but now Lisanna wasn't the only one being tricked. At some point, they completely forgot why they were doing all that, it became more of competition of who could do the best pranks.

Natsu would be lying if he said he wasn't having fun.


	2. Chapter 2

Lisanna had a joyful smile in her face as she ran through yet another corridor of the mansion. She was so glad you couldn't get tired in this dream, because all the tricking and running around should have made her exhausted by now. And she couldn't get hurt too, which was good since Natsu and Happy made her trip over furniture and pumpkins countless times. She did got back at them the last time though, by pushing a carpet under their feet, and that was why she was so happy now.

She eventually entered a room full of unlit candles, getting startled as they lit themselves one by one. Assuming it was another trick of those two, she got on her guard. But to her surprise, at that moment she started to feel very dizzy. She was still wondering how one could get sleepy inside a dream when she fell unconscious.

"Found you!" Natsu, carrying a blanket he had found somewhere else and planned to trap his female friend with, entered the room she was, loud as always. "Huh?" He stopped upon seeing her body lying on the ground.

A feeling of horror spread through him, despite him knowing that was the inevitable outcome of any dream with her, and he ran to her side, wishing against all odds there was some sign she was alive.

Surprisingly to him, there was. She was still breathing and her heart still beating normally. He tried to wake her up, but it was no use at all. He sighed. How could someone be so troublesome? First dying, and now falling asleep inside the weirdest of dreams. As soon as he thought that, he regretted it. The last thing he needed now was to keep thinking of her death.

Not knowing what else to do, he tried to make her lie comfortably in the floor, and covered her with the blanket. Thinking better now, could this be the reason he found that in the first place? Natsu grumbled. This dream surely had a weird way of making stuff happen. He took another look at the white-haired girl. Sleeping peacefully like that, she looked like an angel. Yet he knew, from the past and from the recent pranks, just how mischievous and playful she could be. Or how stubborn and determined she could be when focused on something. Or...

He looked away, unable to stand thinking of her anymore. He hated all this so much. He hated that she was gone, that he couldn't protect her, that this cursed dream would force him to go through all this again, and more than anything, he hated being so weak and having to run away from her like this. He was blessed to have met such a wonderful person, and now pretended she never existed. He was the worst. No matter how much he showed off to others, in the end he was a weakling crying in a corner alone because of things he failed to do.

Natsu sat on the floor feeling helpless and tried to keep his tears from falling down.

* * *

Lisanna didn't know where the vision came from, but she was sure what she was watching was the origin of this dream.

It was night, yet there was enough light to recognize the scenario as an Earthland forest. And Happy sat alone next to a river, looking very sad and lonely.

"Why did Natsu have to pick a mission today?" The cat complained at a low voice. "I wanted to stay home, why is he pretending today is nothing special?" He started to cry. "This used to be such a fun day... There was a lot of food... And everyone was happy... They were the best birthday parties... Lisanna was always so happy too..."

He stopped for a moment to wipe his tears, though it was useless as more kept falling.

"Now... Natsu doesn't even want to hear about her... He always looks sad when I remember stuff... But I don't want to forget her... I don't know what to do! She would know how to cheer up everyone, but I don't!"

As the cat kept sobbing, a white light appeared in the sky. Lisanna recognized it as a small Anima, like the one that took her away. So it was true that they were scattered through Earthland. Right after appearing, it started to close, and at same time, Happy felt sleepy.

Before fully closing his eyes, the unknown fading light looked like a shooting star to his hazy mind. And as the hopeful child he was, he made a wish.

"I want to celebrate Lisanna's birthday... I want her and Natsu to have fun together again..." And after that, Lisanna's vision ended.

By the time she opened her eyes again, she knew the whole dream's script.

* * *

It took a while for Natsu to notice the girl besides him was getting up.

"...Natsu?" She called, still a bit disoriented.

"I'm here! What the hell happened to you? How can someone sleep inside a dream?" He was exasperated, and she couldn't blame him.

"Sorry, I don't know. But I glad it happened. Let's stop the pranks for a moment, there's something we need to do." She looked around. "Where's Happy?"

Natsu didn't know, and so they went searching. It didn't take them long to find the cat in a random corner.

"Natsuuuu! Lisaaaana!" He cried out. "You can't just disappear from a game like that! Where wer-" He was cut short as Lisanna hugged him.

"Li...sanna? Why are you hugging me now?" Not that he minded, the maternal love and warmth he felt coming from her were pleasant and soothing.

"Because you're cute. And I felt like it." She answered simply, not wanting to mention the vision she had.

"Now," She announced after breaking the hug. "follow me, guys! I have something to show you!"

"Eh? But you weren't supposed to know anything about this place." Natsu pointed out.

"Not anymore. I know the whole script now. And I know what I'll choose in the end. Now, let's go!"

And so they followed her through corridors and stairways, until reaching the mansion's roof. Lisanna noticed there were pumpkins here too, but they looked different, pale and weak. So fragile it felt like they would disappear at any minute. And that sight pleased the white-haired girl greatly, but there were other things she should pay attention to.

The sky above them was beautiful, with many stars and a shining crescent moon. For a moment, they did nothing but marvel at the sight, until Lisanna finally broke the silence.

"I wish this moment could last forever..." She spoke softly. "That's the kind of thing I would say, right? But that's not how things work. And I was disappointed by this before, but now, I'm starting to think I can accept it. Because if you keep waiting, new good things happen too. And even if they don't last, they were irreplaceable."

She turned and faced her friends, eyes full of determination.

"And that's why I want to make good use of this miracle while I can." She stated. "Natsu, Happy, since we could meet here again, I have something to ask of you." A birthday gift, she added mentally. "From now on, you must support each other better. I won't get to be at peace anywhere while knowing you two are lonely and crying and hiding things from each other. I know you guys view things differently, and might not feel the same about what you're going through, but you're a family, a wonderful family, so you should talk to and trust each other more." She then looked away, realizing the hypocrisy of her words. "You're not weak like me, anyway, so you don't have to be liars."

It was then that Natsu couldn't stand it anymore.

"Who the hell do you think you are to be saying this stuff!" He screamed. "Do you think I'm stronger than you? I'm a pathetic thing that's been an ass to everyone all year and is too haunted to say a freaking name! I keep showing off that I don't fear anything because I don't even try to face things that could make me afraid! And even so, I'm not going to be calling myself weak! Why the hell would you call yourself weak?" In the middle of his outburst, his tone seemed to change. He wasn't self-loathing anymore.

"If I'm weak, then I going to get stronger! One day I'll get to protect everyone so no one dies like you! And I'll find everyone that goes missing, and I won't have any problem with saying your name out loud! I'll tell everyone about you and remember you all the time! So you just wait and see, because I won't stay whining around like you're doing!"

His words were harsh, his voice was burning with anger and what we said hurt her, but deep down, she knew she deserved to hear that. She was satisfied with how things went. She didn't check, but there were no more carved pumpkins around, for sure. Because no one was faking smiles anymore.

Now it was up to her to bring the real ones.

Waiting for him to calm down, she started to pick up one by one the treats he probably forgot he still carried in his hand. Only after having her hand full she started to reply to him:

"I believe you. I know you'll get stronger. And I might not believe that I can do the same, but I promise I'll do my best to protect everyone around me. I don't want anyone crying because of me anymore."

She stuffed the treats on her jacket's pockets and held his hands tenderly.

"So I accept your lecture, because you're right and I shouldn't be whining. And I accept your tricks, because they are one of the funniest times I had. And I accept your treats, because even if I can't do anything with them, they are from you and that's enough for me."

"What do you mean you can't do anything with them? I give you them, you eat them, and the script ends there, so the dream is over, right?"

"That's not how it works. If I eat them, it's all over, but we would actually be stuck here forever and never wake up. And you know that's not right." He nodded.

"Damn, who made up this weird script, after all?" He complained. "It makes no sense at all!"

"Don't stress much about it. I'm sure whoever did it meant well. That if someone wrote it at all."

An Anima that was forcefully closed and, either because Happy was actually from the other world or just because of some weird side-effect of the magic, recognized the Exceed's strong emotions and pulled the three into this strange dream. Maybe even the other two's feelings were an influence too.

Was magic always this weird, or were they the problematic ones? Lisanna didn't know, and right now, she didn't care. She only stared at Natsu's eyes, and he also looked deeply into hers.

"And so now I'll make my choice: nor trick or treat, we will leave this mansion and hope for a wonderful future without lies and false smiles."

"Well, what can I do? You're the guest, you're the one who chooses." And this time, the pink-haired boy was smiling honestly.

There, with their hands still linked together, everything finally felt alright between them. Without any words, their understood their pain, their love, and how neither desired a sad goodbye. The kiss they shared after that was short, but so sweet and meaningful even Happy didn't feel like joking around this time.

And still smiling, they went back to the gate where everything started, while the scenario around began to disappear and fade into white. Their expression never faltered as she waved goodbye and walked away.

The tears only came as they woke up, one in an Edolas building, and the other two in an Earthland forest, the dream forgotten by all but the bittersweet feeling still lingering in their hearts. And despite that, they still faced that day, and the next ones to come, with more energy and hope than before.

Their desired future and their happy ending would still take years to come, but that birthday was certainly an important step.

* * *

The Space Time Dimensional Magic, Anima.  
More than a passage between worlds, it's magic,  
and would be nothing without feelings.  
But even if you pour all your feelings into it, and make a wish,  
not all wishes can be granted.  
Still, those feelings can't be erased.  
They become dreams, and connect people,  
making them smile and hope for better days.  
And that's in itself a miracle.


End file.
